Data Protection Concepts

Question 1

Obfuscation

Answer 1

Obfuscation is the deliberate act of making code, data, or communication confusing or harder to understand to evade detection, analysis, or attribution while in plain sight. Common in malware (polymorphic code), phishing (URL manipulation), and adversarial tactics (command-and-control traffic masking). Countermeasures include deobfuscation tools, behavioural analysis, and threat intelligence.

Question 2

Tokenisation

Answer 2

Tokenisation is a security process that replaces sensitive data (e.g., credit card numbers, SSNs) with algorithmically generated, non-reversible tokens. These tokens retain transactional utility without exposing the original data, reducing breach risks. Unlike encryption, tokenisation doesn’t rely on cryptographic keys, making it ideal for payment systems (PCI DSS), healthcare, and identity management.

Question 3

Features of data masking include:

Answer 3

1. Replaces sensitive data with fictitious or modified data while retaining its original format.
2. Allows for data manipulation in environments where the actual values are not needed.